To understand the importance of fundraising at SMS, one must first understand three principles of the school's overall financial vision.

• The school is committed to providing the very finest Montessori program for our students today and into the years ahead.
• In order to serve the broadest spectrum of our community, we keep tuition as affordable as possible.
• We recognize that the success of our mission depends upon attracting and retaining the very highest quality faculty and staff by offering salaries and benefits commensurate with their abilities.

How do we reconcile these apparently conflicting goals? Through effective fundraising!

Annual Giving

Annual Giving provides an avenue for parents, grandparents, alumni and other friends of the school to make tax-deductible contributions that directly offset operating expenses, including staff salaries and benefits. No private school can meet its operating expenses by tuition alone without becoming prohibitively expensive. A successful Annual Giving campaign helps us keep tuition increases to a minimum -- and unlike tuition, Annual Giving contributions are tax-deductible.

Please help our program thrive by showing your support today. You can send a check or money order to the school via US mail. We appreciate any and all donations!

"Trash for Cash" Collection

	Set up an account to receive credit for online purchases, enter Box Tops contests, and track our earnings progress.
	View items that qualify for collection and other tidbits about the program. Also visit www.elabelsforeducation.com and register for automatic points when shopping for qualifying products at Kroger.
	View details on the Terracycle Drink Pouch Brigade program. We collect all juice pouches, rinsed please.

You can donate what you collect via an SMS parent or by mailing it to the school.

Shopping

	Register your MVP card to support Staunton Montessori School through the Food Lion 'Classroom Rewards' program.  The Food Lion 'Lion Shop and Share' program changed as of 12/31/2009 to 'Classroom Rewards' so all MVP cards need to be re-registered through this program. Our school code is 218245.
	Register your Martin's card by October 1st of each year to support Staunton Montessori School (ID 02237).
	Enroll your Target REDcard and 1% of your Target purchases will be credited to SMS.
	Please take this notice to a local Kroger store and ask the cashier to scan the bar code along with your Kroger Plus Card. You only have to scan this bar code one time and you are registered to support our school.

Online Shopping

Shop Now to Support Staunton Montessori School	Set up a free account and install the OneCause Toolbar, which is a quick and easy way to earn money for SMS based on the shopping that you do online. Percentages received for purchases vary based on the store. You will often receive offers for discounts and free shipping when shopping at your favorite websites!
	A Part of Something Big offers many wonderful items that enrich and support fair trade organizations.
	Enter Code: 1452 A better lunchbox, reinvented for kids, parents, schools and our planet. SMS earns $5 for each lunchbox sold!

Dining

Visit the Split Banana at 7 West Beverley Street in Staunton the first Wednesday of every month after 5pm and 10% of the profits will be donated to SMS! (July and August not included.)

Thank you for your support!